Results affect funding, resources

By Magdalena WegrzynLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
01/28/2013 07:58:18 PM MST

Updated:
01/28/2013 08:07:26 PM MST

LONGMONT -- As juicy snowflakes started to fall Monday evening, volunteers began to canvass spots in Boulder County where homeless gather, asking people to fill out the annual homeless point-in-time survey.

The survey, coordinated by the Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative, collects data about homeless people living in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. The survey focuses on where people spent Monday night.

Among those who answered the survey Monday night were Tony Giallella and Terry Childs, a couple staying at Longmont's Bar-L Motel.

The couple said they moved into the motel in August, after they were kicked out of the home they were subletting.

Childs said she suffers from a number of medical conditions and cannot work. Giallella said he works full-time at a demolition company and picks up temporary work when he can. Still, after rent and health expenses, Giallella said the couple live "week by week."

"I hope to (move out). The way things are going? No," he said.

Results of the point-in-time survey, which are released in the spring, identify gaps in services, as well as raise awareness that homelessness is a problem in many communities, said MDHI executive director Gary Sanford.

"Sometimes, I think suburban communities don't think this is an issue as much as, say, in Denver. But we know it exists everywhere," he said.

Local nonprofits and governments often use the point-in-time survey data to secure grants and funding. MDHI uses it to receive federal funds, which are then distributed to organizations that help the homeless.

Last year's survey, conducted on Jan. 23, counted12,605 homeless in the Denver Metro area. Among the seven counties, Boulder County had the third largest homeless population with 1,970 people.

Of those, 883 reported sleeping in Longmont, a 39 percent increase in the city's homeless population over the previous year. Last year, for the first time since 2006, Boulder's homeless numbers decreased, falling to 750 from 914 in 2011.

The survey continues today. About 50 volunteers and 70 businesses and agencies throughout the county are helping with this year's survey, said Longmont's survey coordinator Janet Walker Ready.

The 27-question surveys collect basic information -- age, gender, race, household size, employment -- and also ask about the number of times a person has been homeless and why are they homeless this time. Other questions ask about government benefits, mental illness, medical conditions and alcohol or drug abuse.

New this year is a series of five questions aimed at homeless youth between 18 and 24 years old. The questions ask about education, earning money and whether the person has spent time in a juvenile detention center or in residential treatment.

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